Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [28]
compatible.
compatriot for a fellow countryman. Not to be confused, in meaning or spelling, with expatriate.
compel, impel. Both words imply the application of a force leading to some form of action, but they are not quite synonymous. Compel is the stronger of the two and, like its cousin compulsion, suggests action undertaken as a result of coercion or irresistible pressure: “The man’s bullying tactics compelled us to flee.” Impel is closer in meaning to encourage and means to urge forward: “The audience’s ovation impelled me to speak at greater length than I had intended.” If you are compelled to do something, you have no choice. If you are impelled, an element of willingness is possible.
compendium. No doubt because of the similarity in sound to comprehensive, the word is often taken to mean vast and all-embracing. In fact, a compendium is a succinct summary or abridgment. Size has nothing to do with it. It may be as large as The Oxford English Dictionary or as small as a memorandum. What is important is that it should provide a complete summary in a brief way. The plural can be either compendia or compendiums. The OED prefers the former, most other dictionaries the latter.
complacent, complaisant. The first means self-satisfied, contented to the point of smugness. The second means affable and cheerfully obliging. If you are complacent, you are pleased with yourself. If you are complaisant, you wish to please others. Both words come from the Latin complacere (“to please”), but complaisant reached us by way of France, which accounts for the difference in spelling.
Compleat Angler, The. Book by Izaak Walton (1653).
complement, compliment/complementary, complimentary. The words come from the same Latin root, complere, meaning to fill up, but have long had separate meanings. Compliment means to praise. Complement has stayed closer to the original meaning: it means to fill out or make whole. So a gracious guest compliments a host; an espresso after dinner complements a meal. In the adjectival forms complementary and complimentary the words retain these senses, but complimentary has the additional meaning of something given without charge: a complimentary ticket, for instance.
complete. Partridge includes complete in his list of false comparatives—that is, words that do not admit of a comparison, such as ultimate and eternal (one thing cannot be “more ultimate” or “more eternal” than another). Technically, he is right, and you should take care not to modify complete needlessly. But there are occasions when it would be pedantic to carry the stricture too far. As the Morrises note, there can be no real objection to “This is the most complete study to date of that period.” Use it, but use it judiciously.
complete and unabridged. Though blazoned across the packaging of countless audio books, the phrase is palpably redundant. If a work is unabridged, it must be complete, and vice versa. Choose one or the other.
compos mentis. (Lat.) “Of sound mind.”
comprehensible.
compressor.
comprise. “Beneath Sequoia is the Bechtel Group, a holding company comprised of three main operating arms…”(New York Times). Not quite. It is composed of three main operating arms, not comprised of them. Comprised of is a common expression, but it is always wrong. Comprise means to contain. The whole comprises the parts and not vice versa. A house may comprise seven rooms, but seven rooms do not comprise a house—and still less is a house comprised of seven rooms. The example above should be either “a holding company comprising three main operating arms” or “composed of three main operating arms.”
conceived. “Last week, 25 years after it was first conceived…” (Time). Delete “first.” Something can be conceived only